Category Archives: News

The Hotel Lautner (Desert Hot Springs) offered tours during Palm Springs Modernism Week, on Monday, February 17, 2014. The hotel owners invited board members of The John Lautner Foundation to be present during the tours, to offer information about the Foundation and to offer DVDs, Tributes, and memberships for sale. Hotel owners will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Foundation as well.

The tours were well attended. There were many positive comments about the improvements the owners made to the hotel. The Foundation table was busy all afternoon with sales and greetings. Among the many distinguished guests were Leonard Malin (original client for the chemosphere) and his daughter Mary Ann Malin Rollison. A quick view of what guests saw:

Entry to Unit 1Inside Unit 4Small pool at rearOutdoor table and seating areasArea where future events structure will be located

Contact the owners for reservations or with questions through the hotel website at http://www.hotellautner.com.

Curbed LA announced the sale of a residence formerly owned by film director Robert Aldrich, noting that it contains an addition by John Lautner. See the article. In fact, Lautner did three projects for Aldrich, each at a different location. Only the third appears to have been built: a pool and den at the residence currently for sale, completed in 1978. The pool still exists but it is difficult to determine what, if anything, is left of the den addition.

The September 6, 2013 edition of LA Times’ Home of the Week features the 1968 Stevens Residence, for sale by noted modernist rescuer Michael LaFetra. In other articles, LaFetra notes that he is expecting a baby in his life and that baby-proofing this home would damage its architectural character. LaFetra spent significant amounts of time and money restoring the elegant beach home to near-original, and enjoyed living there. Even Stevens’ daughter, invited to visit, is delighted with its current condition. The home is more than suitable for a family, as Stevens’ own experience testifies, but yes, it would be tricky for a toddler. We can expect that LaFetra will take care that the next owner is right for it.

The September 2013 edition of Grand Designs, a British magazine based on a television show of the same name, lists the Chemosphere (Malin residence) as one of “the most iconic homes of the twentieth century”. The article notes that the six homes chosen in the article have all “played key roles in redefining the benchmark for modern residential architecture”. The chemosphere shares space with Wright’s FallingWater, Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye,Shigeru Ban’s “paper house”, Gerrit Rietveld’s Schroder house, and Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house.

The article, which begins on page 139 of the September issue, features the Chemosphere on the first page.

One of the events in the celebration of John Lautner’s birth in 2011 was a panel discussion, “Preserving Lautner’s Legacy”, held at the Wilshire Christian Church in Los Angeles. This discussion is now available on youtube, at http://youtu.be/rINak85pUzk and can be seen here as well:

The panel was hosted by The Los Angeles Conservancy and The John Lautner Foundation, with the support of the Getty Conservation Institute. Linda Dishman, Los Angeles Conservancy Executive Director, moderated the discussion. Members of the panel were:

Helena Arahuete, Principal, Lautner Associates; architect consultant to the Harvey Residence (1951); Advisor to The John Lautner FoundationFrank Escher, board member of the John Lautner Foundation; Principal, Escher GuneWardena Architecture; architect consultant to the Malin Residence (Chemosphere) (1960); Member of the Board of Directors of The John Lautner FoundationMark Haddawy, current owner of the Harpel Residence (1956); Advisor to The John Lautner FoundationMichael LaFetra, board member of Los Angeles Conservancy; current owner of the Rawlins Residence (1980); Advisor to The John Lautner FoundationRon Radziner, FAIA, Principal, Marmol Radziner; architect consultant to the Garcia Residence (1962)

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